Review of Tobias Reichling’s LEGO Money

Tobias Reichling is a German AFOL who used to be a banker and now prints LEGO money – legally! That’s right; Tobias prints both Euros and American bills for your LEGO minifigures. You can check out his website: t-reichling.de, and his store: TASTER BRICKS.

In 2009 Tobias started printing Euros onto LEGO 1×2 tiles, and in 2011 added U.S. bills. After getting my hands on some of them, I was fortunate enough to get an interview with Tobias and ask him a few questions about the process of printing LEGO money. Check out the interview below:

Each set comes with a $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bill.

How did you decide to start making LEGO money for minifigures?

Don’t know exactly. I think it was a thought while having some drinks at a huge LEGO-fan event.

Each set comes with a 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 Euro.

On your website you say that the LEGO money is printed with an inkjet printer. Could you maybe explain a bit about the process of printing the 1×2 tiles?

The LEGO tiles were printed on a normal inkjet printer with a special “entrance” for baseplates. And so the tiles were prepared on such a baseplate before printing. The ink is special: it is very durable and scratch-resistant.

Printing LEGO Money

Now you make Euros and US dollars, are there any plans to make another currency into LEGO money?

No not at the moment. Any ideas or wishes?

I actually don’t have any ideas but maybe something for the Asian community like some Yuan or Yen? Just something to spread out the different types of major currencies.

LEGO money next to a real dollar bill

Also, I noticed on your website that to make LEGO money you had to get permission from the Central Bank of Germany, United States Bureau of Engraving, and the United States Secret Service. Could you explain a little bit about what you had to do to get permission and why these aren’t like a type of forgery?

The biggest problem is to find out the right contact-person with this very unusual request. And you have to be very patient. Dealing with the USSS took me two years. It’s a very slow process throughout the different legal departments. The tiles aren’t like a type of forgery, especially because the LEGO money tiles have printing only on one side, and they differ in size from a normal banknote.

Buyin' some LEGO with LEGO money...

What is your biggest LEGO creation so far? And what creation are you most proud of?

My biggest creation is the LEGO World Copenhagen mosaic with 117.6 square meter. Just have a look at the pictures and the time-lapse video!

And the LEGO creation I am most proud of is the LEGO Euromap I did together with another LEGO-fan, Bruno. We also got many other European LEGO-builders involved in preparing the little sightseeing MOCs on top of the map! It was a big challenge in building the landform-configuration, and also a big challenge in coordination.

Awesome! It’s great to see someone pursue what they want to do and not give up. Those tiles are very very cool!

I love the Rubber Duck instructions! I’ve been trying to figure one out and haven’t been able to make the model quite right. This one is perfect! Definitely gonna have to get that soon. I love rubber ducks and have quite the collection. I need a LEGO rubber duck to add to it.